Another One Bites the Dust

2009 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection Nate Mclouth/Nyjer Morgan Dual Jersey Auto /10

A found white whale!!!!!

It really wasn't much of a hunt.  This card was sitting on COMC for well over a year.  It was just a matter of me wearing down the seller. A couple weeks back the seller finally came off his high asking price.  I still paid more than what I wanted (around $14) but the card just hasn't popped up in so long. My hope was the $8-10 range.

I'll probably update the whale list once I find one more card from the list.  

Thanks for reading. 

Ensembles

2006 Ultimate Ensembles Casey/Perez/Bay/Paulino/Mclouth Auto

I have a few variations of this card, but this combo is the newest to my collection. Boy does this card have a lot going on. Each guy has an interesting story. 

Sean Casey is from the Pittsburgh area, but he didn't stay long as he was traded to Detroit during the 2006 season. His Pirate career was pretty uneventful, but his trade was unpopular do to his hometown status. It didn't really bother me that much as his best years were behind him. That auto is pretty wild too. 

Perez came on quick for the Pirates and flamed out just as quick. The Pirates released him and he was picked up by the Mets. He regained some of his early magic in 2007 with Mets and parlayed that into a long term contract. Unfortunately for the Mets his production fell right back off and the contract immediately turned bad. After the Mets Perez balanced around for a while, but has recently reinvented himself as a reliever. 

I talk about Jason Bay all the time. He is one of my all time favorites and my main reason for buying this card. 

Ronny Paulino looked like he was going to be a productive major league catcher after putting up better than average numbers in 2006. During the 2007 his defense began the suffer and the Pirates pretty much washed their hands of him. He balanced around several years but hasn't seen MLB action in almost three years. 

Nate Mclouth wasn't much of a prospect for the Pirates but he produced at every level of the minor leagues and forced his way onto the big league club. He was given a full time gig in 2008 and had a big year which included an All Star appearance and a gold glove. In 2009 the Pirates shocked their fan base by trading Mclouth to the Braves. Mclouth was signed to a team friendly deal and was coming off a huge season so the deal was very unpopular. It turned out to be a shrewd move by the Buccos as Mclouth's production dropped off the table for the Braves and both Jeff Locke and Charlie Morton are still active Pirates. Also, the trade opened the door for that McCutchen guy.

I like cards like this as they can tell a lot of stories. This card back in the day would have been pretty decent money as both Bay and Perez were popular. Today this card cost me less than $20. 

Thanks for reading! 

Surprised

A couple weeks back I was doing my normal searches on Ebay and came across this dual auto of Van Slyke and Mclouth from 2005 Upper Deck Update.  Being a frequent reader of Cardboardconnection.com I'm usually in tune with most of the Pirate autos and relics.  This one caught me off guard.  It seemed this one had fell through the cracks as it was the first time I had noticed it.  Numbered out of 25 it is rare, but not rare enough to avoid me all these years.  I had to have it either way.  For a shade over $20 I'm now the proud owner.

I always had a soft spot for Mclouth.  Part of me wished the Pirates had kept him, but trading him away had a lot of benefit for the Pirates.  We received Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke from the Braves and the open area in center was taken by some guy named Mccutchen.  It turned out the Pirates traded Mclouth at his absolute peak as he has not come close to his All Star numbers in Pittsburgh.